Social Constructionism, Discourse, and Psychology

1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Durrheim
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cognitive Revolution ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Theories Of Meaning ◽  
Constructionist Theory ◽  
Central Claim ◽  
Theories Of Science

This paper serves as an introduction to social constructionist approaches to psychology. It outlines the arguments which have prompted a shift away from empiricism in the social sciences. Harré's (1992) distinction between behaviourism and the first and second cognitive revolution is used to provide a broad historical framework to develop contrasts between mainstream empiricist psychology and constructionist approaches. The central claim is that theories of meaning are embodied in theories of science, and that we need a new (constructionist) theory of science to underpin a psychology which takes the meaningful nature of human activity as its object of study. Finally, the paper introduces discourse analysis as a methodology which can sustain a constructionist, post-empiricist analysis.

scholarly journals LEGAL DISCOURSE IN THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST PARADIGM (construction of interethnic relations)

2016 ◽  
pp. 117-123
Author(s):  
T. V. Dubrovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study

The paper presents some results of the research that is aimed at revealing the mechanisms of discursive construction of international and interethnic relations in different types of discourse. The object of study in this fragment is the legal discourse, which is viewed within the paradigm of social constructionism. The author consolidates studies of law as discursive practice and outlines an appropriate methodological perspective, which presupposes the interpretation of legal discourse in social and axiological context, participation of society in legal-discursive practices, and the essential role of legal discourse in power relations. To perform the analysis of the ‘Strategy of State national policy of the Russian Federation’, the author applies the categories of social actor, implicature, specifying and vagueness, which are typically exploited in Critical Discourse Analysis. The results demonstrate that the document in question categorises the participants in interethnic relations and constructs a few pairs of interacting parties. The state is represented as a key actor in interethnic relations. The document also operates the discursively opposite mechanisms of specifying and vagueness to problematise certain aspects of the relations. Axiologically laden abstract categories and implicature also construct interethnic relations.

scholarly journals Identity in social constructionism: A review

Sociologija ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-221
Author(s):  
Djordje Milivojevic
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Psychologist ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Terminological Confusion

The terms personality, identity, self or person and many others, are used in the literature in different ways. Sometimes the term implies the personality of the self and the person (Leary, 2004), and sometimes the identity (Harre, 2001). An important source of terminological confusion in the study of self and identity lies in a variety of different perspectives in the social sciences. The subject of this paper is to present the concept of identity in social constructionist paradigm. The paper focuses on works of social psychologist Kenneth Gergen (Gergen, 1991; Gergen, 2002; Gergen, 2009), Rom Harre (Harre, 2001, Harre, 2004; Harre & Tisaw, 2005) and John Shotter (Shotter, 1989; Shotter, 1997) whose speaking of the fragmented nature of identity. The similarities and differences between these approaches are shown. In conclusion, theoretical, methodological and political implications of adopting a new understanding of identity are reconsidered.

The Rhetorical Construction of "the Teacher"

1991 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Nespor ◽  
Liz Barber
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Harvard Educational Review ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Rhetorical Construction ◽  
The Social ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Textual Strategies

Authors in the field of education inevitably use rhetorical strategies that embody particular,and often implicit, theoretical, epistemological, and political positions. In this article, Jan Nespor and Liz Barber critically examine the rhetorical structure of a 1987 article published in the Harvard Educational Review — Lee S. Shulman's "Knowledge and Teaching:Foundations of the New Reform." The authors examine various textual strategies — such as"the phenomenological hook," "appropriating a constituency," and "moving on" — that Shulman used to construct "the teacher" as an object of study. Through a detailed analysis of this widely cited article, Nespor and Barber address broader issues of representation and power in the social sciences, and conclude with a call for "a more 'critical literacy' among the readers and writers of research texts."

Quale modello di partecipazione per la ricerca sociale? Riflessivitŕ nel rapporto tra ricercatore e attore sociale

2012 ◽  
pp. 127-153
Author(s):  
Silvia Cataldi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Social Actor ◽  
The Social ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
The Relationship

The article begins with a brief overview of how the relationship between researcher and object of study has been approached in social sciences. The goal is to reflect further on the process of this study and to raise two essential questions: what kind of relationship develops between the researcher and the social actor? And what kind of participation is required from the social actor? To answer these questions the article proposes identifying four different models of participation, the effects of which are analyzed by rediscovering all the practices that include a particular involvement of the social actor in the research process.

scholarly journals Future Anticipation in Sociology

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-341
Author(s):  
Carlos Miguel Ferreira ◽  
Sandro Serpa
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Future ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Scientific Fields

The ability to make forecasts about events is a goal favored by the so-called exact sciences. In sociology and other social sciences, the forecast, although often sought after, is not likely to be realized unconditionally. This article seeks to problematize and discuss the connection between sociology and forecast. The object of study of sociology has particular features that distinguish it from other scientific fields, namely facts and social situations, which deal with trends; the systems of belief of social scientists and policymakers that can influence the attempt to anticipate the future; the dissemination of information and knowledge produced by sociology and other social sciences, which have the potential to change reality and, consequently, to call into question their capacity for the social forecast. These principles pose challenges to sociology’s heuristic potentials, making the reflection on these challenges indispensable in the scientific approach to social processes.

scholarly journals Rights and religious belief in maintaining prison social order

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah Tukwariba Yin ◽  
Peter Atudiwe Atupare
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Constructionist Theory

This paper argues that it is not the prison rules and regulations that alter the behaviour of inmates but rather the ideological justification of their religious faith. The article draws upon the social constructionist theory of reality to underpin the discussion of the data. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews and the distribution of semi structured questionnaires. When analysed, the data revealed that although inmates had the right to practice the precepts of their religious faith as defined in law, in practice, these religious rights were not entirely observed. The partial recognition of these rights divulges that the principle of humane treatment underpinning the respect for rights in prison was ignored and reduced to mere formal respect for rules. Besides, the data disclosed that inmates rarely attributed the change in their personality to the impact of prison rules and regulations, but rather to the transformative power of their religion.

Philosophy of Social Sciences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Elster
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Methodological Individualism ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Holistic Approaches ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Methodological Principles ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Causal Laws

This chapter addresses problems and themes in the social sciences. Social sciences are understood specifically as sciences that have (or should have) the following minimal characteristics: their object of study is human behavior and they follow a certain number of methodological principles, including a marked effort towards analytical clarity; the investigation of causal explanations through the formulation of causal laws or at least causal mechanisms; and a subscription to a form of methodological individualism, if an amended one, which puts at the heart of social science the notion of choice. We discuss three principal themes. The first raises the question of the status of laws in the social sciences and, in particular, that of “consequence laws,” otherwise known as functionalist explanations. The second theme takes up methodological individualism, as compared to holistic approaches. The last theme concerns hypotheses of rationality and self-interested motivations, which increasingly figure in social scientific explanations.

scholarly journals Employment, environmental pollution and working class life in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanesa Castán Broto
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
The Social

People's experiences of a polluted space are intimately linked with their relative concerns for quality of life and livelihoods. Thus quality of environment and security of employment are two closely related issues in social conflicts over environmental pollution. Rather than being implicated in a trade-off relationship, environmental quality and job provision are both part of the life of community residents. Bringing together the literature on the political ecology of environmental conflicts and the social constructionist literature on public perceptions of environmental risks, this article argues that the working class and disadvantaged sections of society are often confronted with alliances between the industry, institutions and other stakeholders which may serve to legitimate a particular configuration of things in which the appropriation of some resources by the industry is regarded as legitimate. However, these arrangements are unstable: they are subject to constant renegotiation between the social groups implicated. Thus, how the emergence of concerns about the local environment relates to preoccupations about the state of the local economy is related to a process whereby these relationships are constructed and re-negotiated. These questions are analyzed using a case study of environmental pollution from coal-energy production in the city of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The case shows that both concerns for the environment and unemployment are articulated simultaneously in the context of industrial pollution, together with the redefinition of the socio-economic landscapes of post-industrial Tuzla.Keywords: Environmental pollution, employment, working-class life, social constructionism, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Racial reality and unreality1

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karim Murji
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Constructionist Approach ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the debates on what race is. For some time, the dominant social constructionist approach in the social sciences has insisted that the only proper way to regard race is by refuting any connection with biology. Attention to the many ways in which race is socially constructed has been important; but, while a construction is not ‘unreal’, there is a common further step in which race is thereby deemed to be not valid. The rejection of race tends to treat race as something that would be ‘real’ if it were located in science and biology. The chapter then shows how recent developments in the natural sciences and changing views on the relationship between the natural and social sciences problematise that view. Yet in opposition to post-race views, critical scholars can then be seen to draw on conventional categories of race to show that racialised inequality still matters.

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